Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268
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08, 113
The mountains of the Tangale-Waja Uplands are inhabited by a number of small ethnic groups. They speak different languages which belong to two unrelated linguistic stocks. The Afroasiatic stock is represented by Chadic languages, especially Tangale, but also Pero and Kushi (further to the south along the slopes of the Muri Mountains) of the Bole-Tangale Group. But the majority of the languages belong to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo stock. The study of the vocabulary, technical terms and expressions relating to farming in general and 'farming on terraces' in particular constitutes another important aspect of our multidisciplinary research project providing us with valuable information about the history of the settlements and cultures of the entire region. In this communication we will restrict ourselves to a few general observations which are mainly based on the comparison of selected items of the farming vocabularies of those communities which used to farm the slopes of the mountains in our research area. We want to focus on the various designations for "terraced farms" and "terraces" including any arrangement or setting of stones on farms to enhance and support the production of the staple food: guinea corn (sorghum) and/or millet (pennisetum).
14, 477
Traditional land rights in Dagara and Sisala societies in Burkina Faso and Ghana which were stateless in pre-colonial times are closely connected with the concept of earth-shrine parishes under the protection of a local land god and ideally under the control of the “first-comers” to the area. The earth priests perform regular sacrifices at the shrine and allocate land to later immigrants as well as the right to build houses and to bury their dead, often in exchange for gifts. The international border between Ghana and Burkina Faso, which was drawn up in 1898 and runs along the 11th parallel, often cuts across earth-shrine parishes. Particularly since the border demarcation exercise in the 1970s, the spatial separation of the Sisala earth priests on one side of the border from the Dagara immigrants on the other side has given rise to intricate conflicts over land rights. The paper will present the history of one such conflict and look at the various landrelated discourses – traditionalist, nationalist, and Christian – which the adversaries put forward in order to substantiate their claims.
08, 049
The area around the Lake Chad is characterized as an example for a region where ethnic changes abundantly took place and still do. For example some Kanuri districts, or the leaders of those districts, are (unofficially) named after other ethnic names (e.g. Margi, Shuwa) or Kanuri clan names are identical with ethnic names of other groups, eg. Tera, Bade. Both people speak a Chadic language and live in the south and west of the Kanuri respectively. These are indications that the Kanuri formerly absorbed and integrated these peoples. These processes are not only a phenomenon of the past. In the case of the neighbouring Gamergu people an ongoing process of ethnic change towards a Kanuri identity is observed until present. The research projects1 have revealed that the concept of "ethnic units" is far from being static which the term may suggest. This especially applies to the German Stamm, which implies a static concept of ethnicity. However, in Borno the dynamics of ethnic and linguistic change are prevailing. Therefore Ronald Cohen rejected the term "ethnic unit", or even "tribe" for the Kanuri and preferred "nation" instead. Umara Bulakarima argued along the same line but used "ethnic group" for Kanuri subunits, e.g. Manga, Mowar, Suwurti. There is no doubt that the Kanuri played a dominant part in the history of the Lake Chad area during the past centuries. Therefore the "Kanurization" process may not surprise. However, in the following it will be revealed that the processes of contact and resulting adaptations and delimitations are not necessarily unidirectional from Kanuri to other groups. At least in some cases they may go into the opposite direction, e.g. from Gamergu to Kanuri.
04, 005
In a recent article dealing with the Tangale Peak or Kilang, as it is called in the local Tangale language, Herrmann JUNGRAITHMAYR presents an account narrated by a Tangale elder about the attempted ascent of that characteristic mountain by a British colonial officer and his subsequent death.1 Kilang mountain is a basaltic cone approximately 1300 m high, about 8 km southwest of Kaltungo, one of the principal settlements of the Tangale people, in southern Bauchi State, northeastern Nigeria. During a research stay at the National Archives in Kaduna in November 1993 I was able to consult a file containing various documents relating to this incident in detail.2 In the following note I present an outline of the events based on the evidence in the colonial records. By doing this I not only intend to shed more light on a tragic event from the very early years of the colonial era. The picture of the circumstances emerging from the investigations of the colonial authorities may serve as a background to the narrative by the Tangale elder presented in JUNGRAITHMAYR's publication.
14, 021
Numerous ecologists postulate that West African savannas are mostly the result of degradation of formerly closed forests. This hypothesis can only be tested by palaeoecological investigations. The palynological results summarised in this paper document the history of the Sudanian and Sahelian savanna of NE-Nigeria during the last 11.500 years (uncal. BP). Both sites investigated provide evidence for the persistence of savanna throughout the entire Holocene. Patches of closed dry forest may have occurred, but never completely displaced the savanna vegetation. Humid conditions during the early and mid Holocene (from 10.000 BP onwards) caused a rapid spread of Guinean and Sudanian taxa into the northern vegetation zones. A slow return to drier climatic conditions between ca. 6800 BP and ca. 5500 BP can be recorded at both sites. Finally, between 3800 BP and 3300 BP a strong aridification resulted in the establishment of the modern vegetation zones. In both the Sahelian and Sudanian zone the vegetational changes appear to have been primarily controlled by climatic changes, whereas the effects of human activities remain palynologically silent even for the late Holocene.
02, 113
The land use in the Tangale-Waja area is analysed according to the two basic categories of geography: Firstly the manifold interaction between men and environment which form the spatial characteristics of an area, and secondly the decrease of influence with increasing distance. The importance of these two elementary factors is described by indicators as accessibility for the period from the precolonial situation until the time after World War II, when new roads were constructed through the mountainous area. Living in a hilly environment the self contained population (formerly called "hill pagans") had developed special agricultural techniques which can be considered ecologically well adapted. The opening up of the area after the pacification, Christianity and education, led to a considerable increase in population, the expansion of land under cultivation, and the change of settlement structure by down-hill population movement. This resulted in overuse of the fragile natural resources. The size of farm steads became too small for the family unit and the still low accessibility of the hinterland of the main interregional roads as well as inappropriate techniques of agricultural production are shortcomings causing heavy damage to the physical environment and decreasing living standards of the local population.
08, 129
Changes in settlement pattern and culture - the process of down-hill migration in Tula, Bauchi State
(1996)
The process of down-hill migration of the Tula people started during the 1920s and has not yet finished. The resulting present situation might give information how far terraces play any role in the economy, ecology and ideology of the Tula. Approaching this question from a socio-agricultural point of view some facts which indicate the pertaining or overcoming of traditional structures will be presented. In the following the land tenure system, the adoption of innovations and the role of women in agriculture will be discussed comparatively for Tula Wange and Tula Baule on the plateau, Fantami, which is generated by down-hill dwellers of Tula Wange, with its more or less bad farming conditions on shallow sandy soils and Kaltin, where the down migrants of Tula Baule settle in a more fertile area. Tula Wange numbers around 2000 households, Baule 1000, Fantami about 200 and Kaltin 350 of which the sample survey includes 15% in the plateau sites and 25% in the plain settlements.
14, 071
The conflict I refer to happened at the beginning of the 1998 farming season when the distribution of land started. The seasonal migrants went into the village area were they had been farming since many years, they gave their contributions and payments to the respective officials and started to prepare the land. Shortly after they had started to plant the beans – the main cash crop beside fishing – they were harassed by armed people and had to leave the area. Only several weeks later they were able to go back to their prepared fields and proceeded with their farming business. The question I want to concentrate on is related to the topic of the ethnological sub-project – “Community building in newly founded settlements in the Lake Chad area” – and can be specified as “What do conflicts tell us about the community and people involved?”
14, 153
The study investigates elements influencing agricultural development in villages of the hinterland of Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria. It aims to discover changes in socio-economic and socio-cultural interactions that exist among household, region, nation and world market. Of special interests are rural households as well as wholesale markets where dynamic processes in the structure of agricultural enterprises and the individual reasons of innovations are recognisable. The final objective of the study is to analyse the agricultural sector in the investigated villages in time and space, by typifying rural households, there strategies of action in relation to different factors: for example, farmsize, cultivation techniques and marketing of agriculture products. The study is also interested in operational profits and costs of farms, income of households as well as expenditures, etc. Because of the fact that statistical work is still going on, it is only possible to present a small portion of the results. Namely, the change in cultivation and marketing of farm products with special emphasis on cash crops during the last 30 years.
08, 019
With one group generally constituting the autochthonous host - representing the core population in the centre - immigrant groups tend to reside in separate ethnic wards and even work in wards/quartiers identified with their ethno-specific crafts and trades - and often named after them. The socio-lingustic survey will therefore use available and new maps and ethno-linguistic statistics: For the former, the urban surveys by the Max Lock Company of north-eastern Nigeria have been of great help, but have to be updated ; for the latter, various censuses had to be supplemented by more recent information . With ethno-linguistic wards constituting enclaves which can only interact through a language or languages in common, we can apply the general model of the triglottic configuration by positing x territorial and y immigrant, ethnic languages of solidarity; one general urban community language or lingua franca of interaction; and the official language of authority and administration. This language of authority was formerly a local aristolect (Kanuri or Fulfulde), but is now mostly an exolect - English or French. This short presentation concerns ongoing work in urban socio-lingustics developed in Maiduguri over some 15 years.